Chapter One | a new beginning

It wasn't raining for once when the plane landed in Seattle.

If I didn't have Cerebral Palsy, I knew I would take another hour flight from Seattle to Port Angeles but that wasn't possible. So, Charlie ended up having to go two hours from Forks to get me from the Seattle Airport. I had felt guilty, at the knowledge I would make things harder for him. It was already hard enough for me. The last thing I needed to do was make anyone have a harder time than me.

One of the airport employees pushed my wheelchair through the crowd of people, the sky outside was a bluish tint. My hands were twitching by my sides, evidence that my stress was getting to me. I closed my eyes and counted to ten before I felt my muscles loosen as much as they could. I opened my brown eyes again and watched as people moved past me, some of them of course were curious and glanced at me while others were rude and stared at me.

Eventually Charlie appeared, dressed in his Chief-of-Police uniform with his police hat covering his obsidian thick hair. His mustache twitched upwards on his upper pale lip, letting me know he was glad I was here. He was also evidently glad that the airport was helping me to find him instead of him having to try and find me.

Reaching him, I couldn't help but shyly say, "hi," to him.

Charlie's eyes softened at my quiet voice before he came forward and took one of my hands in his, giving me a gentle squeeze.

He dropped my hand once he knew that he had signaled he was happy to see me. It was something that I treasured, something that was pure, unlike Renee whenever she would try to hug me or put her hands in me only to have that look in her eyes that let me know she was only doing this so she could look like a good mother. I shouldn't look too much into it because she wasn't looking too much into it either.

After thanking the airport employee for bringing me to him safely, Charlie pulled me towards the parking lot of the airport. I stayed still and just absorbed the slight sun that was trying to peek through the clouds. I knew I was giving away the sunshine but maybe one day I would be able to see the sun again so freely…then again maybe I wouldn't have Cerebral Palsy.

Once I was put into the front passenger seat and Charlie helped me put my seatbelt on, I relaxed and smiled. Charlie opened the front driver's seat and sat down before he started the police cruiser and began to drive us out of the Seattle airport. The traffic was busy, but it was nowhere as busy as it would have been if it were during the holidays.

"Bella."

I looked over at Charlie, noting how he was fidgeting with his fingers that were on the leather steering wheel. If I were able to do so I would have brought one of my arms out and placed my hand on his. Letting him know that it was okay, in little motions like that, that was one of the worst things about my Cerebral Palsy. I couldn't do those things. I could only look at his hands and not actually touch them. I was just there but not there.

"I've had to convert my study downstairs into a bedroom," Charlie told me, earning a soft hum to let him know I was listening to him. He continued, "Dr. Carlisle Cullen is the head doctor at the clinic in town. He has asked one of his nurses to stay with us while you are living here, so she can make sure to take care of you on things such as the hygiene level."

I ducked my head down, a few pieces of hair falling next to my face. I knew in a way I was hiding my face from him, but it was understandable, right? No daughter wanted to talk to her father about her hygiene. It was even worse when I couldn't even do my hygiene on my own. I was an embarrassment, plain and simple.

"I-Is she nice?"

"Yes, I met her a week ago. Her name is Leigha. She's excited to meet you. She has a cousin that has Cerebral Palsy also, so she is accustomed to the disease," Charlie added, making relief flood throughout me at the knowledge that Leigha seemed as though she was knowledgeable about the disease because her family member had it.

Two hours later we arrived in Forks. I peered out at the scenery in front of me. It was still the same, there was nothing new about it. I didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. In Phoenix it was usually always changing, always adding new buildings every few months. Here it was as though everything was the same as it had been since the last time I had been here when I was around thirteen.

When we reached Charlie's house, I was welcomed with the two-story white paneled house that Charlie had bought for him and Renee in the early years of their marriage. There was an old porch swing that needed to have the chains replaced, and the front door had some dings in it from the decade it had been on the house. There were the light blue shutters that were on either side of the windows, they needed a fresh coat of paint. There was even a simple Honda Civic that was in the driveway, signaling that it must have belonged to Leigha.

Speaking of Leigha, she stood awkwardly on the front porch. She looked as though she had just finished nursing school not that long ago and she had multiple tattoos that were spread across her arms (she was wearing a quarter sleeved shirt with dark washed jeans and some black and white checkered Converse tennis shoes). Her hair was even a brilliant red, it reminded me of Hayley Willliams from Paramore (one of my favorite bands, another being Muse).

Parking the police cruiser, Charlie got out of the cruiser and went to the back trunk of the vehicle before he pulled out my trusty wheelchair. He was used to doing this, my godfather who happened to be a native on the La Push Reservation outside of town had been diagnosed with diabetes when I was little and now had to be in a wheelchair due to his disability.

Charlie came up to my car door and opened the door before he unbuckled my seat belt and pulled me out of the cruiser before sitting me into my wheelchair. He began to push me towards the front porch (there was a ramp that was built next to the main stairs for me), only for Leigha to come down the ramp and reach us.

Leigha gave me a warm smile when she reached me, before she reached her hand out to touch mine. I made a slight nod (or at least an attempt of one), which was enough for her to reach her hand out further and take my hand in hers. She gave me a light squeeze, almost like a butterfly kiss that parents gave to their children, before she let my hand go.

"Hello, Bella. I'm Leigha. I'm sure Charlie filled you in on me when you came down from Seattle but in case, he didn't I'm your home nurse. I know that it might be degrading for you, but I won't force you to do anything you don't want to do. I'll come and wake you up in the morning, make sure you eat, bathe, all that jazz. You don't have to worry about a thing," Leigha informed me, enough for me to loosen up some when it came to the fact that she was very respectful to me.

"Thank you."

Leigha smiled and responded, "of course, Bella. I forgot to also mention that your school helper will come and pick you up in the mornings and bring you home in the afternoons. I'll be at the clinic unless you need to stay home. She's the main doctor in town's wife. She'll insist you call her Esme, though she said that it's okay if you are more comfortable calling her Mrs. Cullen."

"Can I push you into the house?" Leigha offered; I nodded my head.

The front living room was exactly as I remembered it being. The same plaid couch, the same old recliner that needed to be given to the thrift store the Lutheran church ran. Along with the same antique coffee table that had rings on the surface from the times Charlie forgot to put a coaster down for his drinks. A floor lamp was in between the couch and the recliner, sending out a pool of light. There were random photographs of Forks that were on the wall, some of the photographs being from one of my great uncles when he had lived here (Uncle Charles–Charlie had been named after his favorite uncle). There was the fireplace that had all my school pictures lining the mantel piece for all the world to see. Along with the old chest that had the television on it angled towards the recliner and the left end of the couch next to the fireplace. The floor was wooden paneling, the creaking of the wooden panels underneath the wheelchair signaled Charlie needed to have a house inspector check the house.

Leigha pushed me towards the staircase, her bedroom door was closed, which was right next to the staircase. A newer staircase chair lift was hooked to the staircase, enough for me to look away from the staircase chair lift to let her know I was surprised there was a newer one there. Leigha blushed at the fact I had immediately noticed the change.

"There was a private clinic fundraiser for a new chair lift for you. We didn't want to make it public because we didn't want to put too much attention to it. Not everyone needs to know your business, besides it was time for a new one," Leigha informed me, her voice was quiet near the end so Charlie couldn't hear her mention how the last chair lift needed to be replaced.

"T-Thank you."

Leigha picked me up before she sat me down onto the chair lift. I pushed the button on the arm of the chair and tried not to look over at Leigha or even Charlie as they stood at the bottom of the stairs. I knew they were studying me and trying to see if they could have a reaction out of me. It was weird but then again, I knew I was weird so of course weird staring at me would end up being something that I was accustomed to.

Leigha came up the stairs with the wheelchair after I reached the top of the stairs and made sure to put me back into my wheelchair without any extra jolting. I saw in the corner of my eye Charlie coming up the stairs with my luggage, allowing me to know that he was allowing Leigha to take charge for the time being. I wished he would be doing this in the future also, after all he was my father, and fathers took care of daughters when they needed them.

The hallway wasn't too long, and we reached my bedroom without any issues. My bedroom faced the west side of the house, which also meant it faced the front yard and the gravel driveway. The walls were a light blue, and there was a peaked ceiling. Yellow lace curtains framed the window, and they were pulled back to allow the limited sunlight to come into the room. A secondhand computer with a modem (phone line) stapled on the carpeted floor was to the closest phone jack. A rocking chair from my baby days was in the corner of the room, evidence that once upon a time Renee actually tried harder (as soon as I was old enough to walk and talk it was too overwhelming for her).

A white wrought iron bed with a simple square headboard and footboard was pressed against the left wall. The bedsheets were purple along with the bedcover, one of my favorite shades of purple. Charlie must have remembered how purple was a favorite color of mine. Another thing that Renee certainly wouldn't remember, that was for sure.

Leigha pushed me around the bedroom so I could see things better up close. I smiled some when I saw a picture sitting on the desk of me along with my godfather, Billy Black, sitting on the back bed of the chevy truck he had bought back in 1984. The truck was a faded red, with big and rounded fenders. There was a bulbous cab also. It must have been new in the early 1960's or the late 1950's.

Billy on the other hand was sitting with his deep auburn skin slightly wrinkled due to middle age and had long obsidian hair that draped down to a few inches above the beginning of his armpits. A wide brim cowboy hat sat smug on his head while he was wearing a fishman ensemble–the knee-high rubber waterproof boots and the overalls over a simple shirt. He was smiling brightly, and I was sitting in his lap, beaming happily too.

Billy's son, Jacob, was standing on the truck bed with a fishing pole that had a fish still hooked on the line. He had chubby cheeks and his hair was a wild mess on his head. He was dressed in a childlike version of his dad's outfit. His chest was puffed up with pride and he smirked. (of course, the picture that was taken not even a minute later had the fish back in the lake since Billy said they had enough fish they had caught for that day, and how they shouldn't take from Mother Nature more than they should)

"So, are you excited to see them again?" Leigha probed as she helped me onto the bed and sat down next to me. I nodded my head, as best as I could, enough for her to smile warmly at me once more. "My dad was in the military when I was growing up, so I never had the opportunity to have childhood friends or god-siblings."

"Has h-he visited?"

Leigha shook her head. "No. Your godbrother kept calling the house, begging to come and pick you up at the airport with your dad." A soft, amused smile came across the nurse's face at the remembrance I was certain of Jacob Black pleading to come and say hello to me at the airport.

Then I remembered how stressful it was for me to find Charlie at the Seattle airport. It was stressful because I had a person I didn't even know, well I knew her name but that was only because there was a nametag on her uniform, but that was it. I had a stranger who was pushing me around the airport to look for Charlie–I had supplied a picture of Charlie so she would know what he had looked like. It had to be required after all, they couldn't just hand me over to just anyone.

I didn't stay in my bedroom, finding there was no reason to do so. Being up here, in my bedroom, I felt trapped. I would have rather let Leigha take my bedroom and I take the study instead. I didn't voice it, not wanting to be a bother, besides they had made sure to give me a new chairlift for the staircase. I needed to use it more than just needing to use it to go to the bathroom.

It was during dinner, as Leigha cut my dinner that Charlie cleared his throat. I looked away from Leigha cutting the steak that was in front of me to bite size pieces. She didn't seem as though she was bothered with doing this for me, for a seventeen-year-old girl instead of just an elementary school kid. She glanced up from the meal and gave me a small smile, one that was barely there but enough to let me know she understood my conflictions. After all, her cousin had Cerebral Palsy.

"Are you excited to go to high school? To meet Esme?" Charlie asked me this, enough for me to give him more of a grimace than a smile. He nodded his head, as though letting me know that he understood my apprehension.

"Esme is a good woman, Bella. I'm sure Leigha already told you, but she's the best doctor in town's wife. She worked for special education students in the past and those who have I.E.P's just like you do. You might end up having classes with their foster children, there's two of them that are in your grade. Then there's three others that are seniors. There's twins, they're actually Esme's niece and nephew, they were her sister's children."

"H-How old?"

"Oh, Esme is in her early thirties though she looks as though she'd be my age," Leigha claimed, which let me know the doctor's wife must have looked a lot younger than she claimed she was. "The same goes for Dr. Cullen too. They both claim to be in their early thirties but then again it might just be good genetics. Wish I knew the secret to their youth."

"You're only 24, Leigha," Charlie pointed out, enough for Leigha to pick up her own fork and wave it, in front of her as though her age didn't matter.

"That doesn't matter. It will help in the future. If there is some secret lotion or something that they are taking to take away any signs of aging," Leigha defended before she took a bite of her food. She turned and made sure to help feed me some more before she went back to her own meal.

"Take away all that I just said about their genes and some aging lotion, just know that you're going to be okay, Bella. You couldn't be in better hands, I promise you."

Leigha was serious this time, enough for me to give her two taps on her wrist–which meant I understood. She sent me back two taps of her own, allowing me to know that she was glad. She made sure to keep me from stressing out some more, and fed me the last of my steak (if I could cook I would have loved to have helped Charlie with making meals but Leigha was a decent cook and claimed that she had recipes from Food Network to help guide her with meals in the future).

Eventually dinner ended and Leigha helped me take a bath to get ready for the next day. She plucked some of her own shampoo from the collection of shampoos that were on the shelf of the tub. I opened my mouth to protest only for her to shake her head.

"Nothing you can say or do will stop me from pampering you, Bella. This shampoo, it's the good stuff. It's a little on the pricier side but it works like a charm. You're lucky that we have the same kind of hair texture. I mean I have a conditioner that will help me with keeping my dye in my hair but other than that it's basically the same. You won't be needing the conditioner though if you ever consider dyeing your hair let me know. I have this great hair stylist I go to in Port Angeles. She keeps up with the latest trends," Leigha rattled off as she began to lather my hair up with shampoo.

"C-Color?"

Leigha stuck her tongue out for a moment as she studied my face and then my hair. She seemed to decide what she thought would look good on me because she surprised me when she said, "blonde. I mean a good shade of blonde. None of those tacky blonde shades you see sold on the shelf. I mean a really good shade. We'd have to take you out to get a little bit more sun on you, so you won't look washed out with the blonde."

I smiled as she told me this, for a moment it was as though I had an older sister that had decided to become a nurse and take care of me. She told me plenty of things that had happened when she was in nursing school, pranks she would pull on the male nurses with the girls. All the different clubs she had gone to with her friends after their grueling nursing exams.

Eventually it was time for me to get out of the bath. She dried me off and blow dried my hair before straightening it with her hot pink hair straightener, since she claimed that a touch up was better in the morning than having to rush and do the whole hair with limited time. She made sure my teeth were brushed well and then took me into my bedroom–where she helped me pick out my first outfit for school tomorrow.

I ended up deciding to wear a comfy forest green sweatshirt, comfortable jeans and some slip-on tennis shoes that didn't need the laces tied. Leigha paired it with an egg white hued parka she had bought from Abercrombie and Fitch the last time she had gone to the mall. I thanked her as she did this, putting my clothes onto the dresser so it was all there for tomorrow.

As she turned off the light in the bedroom and the heat kicked on in the house, I closed my eyes and hoped that only good things would come my way here. I didn't want to take up a place where I wasn't wanted or needed.

The next morning, Leigha helped me get ready for the day. She touched up my hair and made sure to put concealer over my skin, on places that had blemishes and underneath my eyes since they almost always had lines underneath them due to sleep deprivation. She made sure to zip up my jeans for me and button them. She put a lightweight t-shirt underneath my sweatshirt in case I grew too hot and needed to cool down. She fed me some cereal and brushed my teeth for me, without having too many conversations with me but enough to let me know she was here for me.

The ringing of the front doorbell signaled Esme was coming to take me to school on my first day here at Forks High. I glanced up at Leigha nervously, but she merely leant down and kissed me on the top of my head and pushed my wheelchair towards the front door. She was already dressed in her nursing scrubs, and she was ready for the day. She even packed a lunch for me in my backpack so I could eat lunch without needing Esme to go to the lunch line and get me something.

The front door opened, revealing Esme Cullen standing on the other side of the front door.

Esme Cullen reminded me of those old school 1950's American Housewives you'd see in the magazines. She had the perfect caramel shoulder length hair that was coiled at the ends. She was dressed in a forest green dress with quarter length sleeves and a skirt that fell around her knees. She wore low heeled dress shoes and a set of pearls around her neck. They might have been her mother's pearls; it wouldn't surprise me if they were. She had on soft makeup to her symmetrical heart shape headed features, and her golden irises caught me off guard.

"Good morning, I'm Esme Cullen. You must be Isabella," Esme said, her ethereal voice soothing me as she came forward and crouched down. She held out her hand and I put mine in hers, enough for her to smile some more as she shook our hands.

"B-Bella."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Bella, not Isabella. You may call me Esme, even if others tell you to call me Mrs. Cullen. It's not disrespectful towards me, I'm fine with Esme," she informed me, enough for me to have some of my finger's twitch in an anxious way.

"Thank you for arriving on time, Esme. I need to head to the clinic. I'll tell your husband that you said hi," Leigha interrupted before she bent down and kissed me on the head and hurried past the tall and elegant pale woman (her skin had a tinge of blue, it was that pale).

"Do you have everything you need, Bella? If so, then we can head off to the high school."

Tapping my fingers two times she seemed to understand I meant yes. She went behind me and pushed my wheelchair forward. I smiled some at the sweet minty perfume that came from her. I was still tired from traveling yesterday and waking up here instead of back in Phoenix. It would probably take a while for me to become accustomed to all of this. My eyes were already closing, I was that tired, but I knew I needed to focus on staying awake.

I didn't notice the top-of-the-line safety van that Esme had as she pushed us towards it. I only noted how when she put me into the passenger seat of the van, I was struck with more of the minty scent though there was a tinge of new car smell. I opened my eyes and peered around the tan and white themed interior of the van, before my eyes went back towards Esme.

As she drove out of the driveway and led us towards the high school something inside me sparked, without my knowledge, on how strange Esme seemed to be.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: a few people couldn't decide over Marcus or Caius and a few others wanted her to be in a poly relationship with them. I'm here to say that in none of my fanfictions there will be any poly relationships. It's not something I write. I decided on her being with Caius. Anyway, here's the first chapter. *waves hand at chapter above in hopes you liked it* as always Twilight doesn't belong to me -Emmy